


when push comes to shove

by cowboylakay



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25887961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboylakay/pseuds/cowboylakay
Summary: Things go wrong on a job that was supposed to go right, and Arthur almost pays the price for it.
Relationships: Arthur Morgan/Charles Smith
Comments: 1
Kudos: 43





	when push comes to shove

Arthur’s known for as long as he can remember: no matter how smooth things sail, there is always a chance for everything to go wrong. He knows this, and yet, he’s still caught off guard when it goes wrong.

 _You goddamn idiot, Morgan,_ he berates himself, grinding his teeth together as he hides behind a crate by one of the still-standing walls, narrowly avoiding a bullet that whizzes past his ear. He should’ve known; the offer was too sweet, too good to be true. The diamond bracelet feels heavy in his shirt pocket as he reloads his revolver, feeling more than hearing the wood splinter beside him.

It was a simple job. According to a crooked lawman in the local town, a guarded stagecoach was to pass in the coming days, carrying nothing but a set of diamond-decorated jewellery. Quick and easy, they’ll take out the guards as it passes through some bare bit of land, take the stagecoach, and drive it back to camp after some rounds to throw any lawmen off their trail. Dutch had sent him, Javier, and Charles to pull it off, and with two of their best and most efficient men at his side, Arthur had been confident to near bursting.

Turns out, the lawman was crooked in all kinds of ways. Not even minutes after they got the stagecoach, what felt like an army of Del Lobos intercepted them and tried to rob them in turn. Which brings them to now, ducking and shooting behind the cracking walls and scattered boxes of Solomon’s Folly, three against what’s likely thirty.

He lands another shot on a Del Lobo, who collapses and is instantly replaced by two more. “Christ! Is there an end to these sons’a bitches?!” He yells, cursing to himself when a bullet grazes his thigh and repositioning himself to be hidden better. From his peripherals, he sees Javier take out another one.

“I don’t know!” Javier calls back, looking about as angry and worried as Arthur feels. “Seems like they won’t stop coming!”

“You seen Charles?!” He yells, having lost track of him amongst the commotion. He doesn’t hear Javier’s response.

The next few events happen in a matter of seconds. A heavy weight barrels straight into him, then he’s suddenly straddled by a Del Lobo, grinning at him with a mad rage and aiming his gun right under Arthur’s chin. In the shock of having been snuck up on, he barely has time to react when he hears the click of a hammer. Then, when his mind registers that _this is it, it’s over,_ the wall behind the Del Lobo is sprayed red with blood, a gaping hole right in the centre of the Del Lobo’s skull, gun firing by Arthur’s ear. The corpse collapses to the side, and then strong hands are hauling him up.

“Come on, _move,_ Arthur!” He thinks Charles is saying, but the ringing in Arthur’s ears has yet to fade. He instinctively follows anyways, pushing himself up against the wall and going right back to shooting.

Minutes later, when the smoke finally clears and the Del Lobos are all dead, Arthur collapses to the side of the destroyed building, panting and catching his breath. He’d almost died today, which isn’t all too uncommon in his line of work, but still a shock every time it happens. Had it not been for Charles, he’d probably have been red pulp on the ground.

“Thank you,” Arthur says, ducking his head and wiping his face with a dusty glove. Charles glances at him from where he’s seated, knees close to his chest as he also catches his breath. “You saved my life.”

“You’d have done the same for me,” Charles replies, and Arthur admires the certainty in his tone. In a too-honest part of his mind, he thinks that that might not be too far from the truth. He looks up at Charles, sees the genuine smile on his face, smiles back, and thinks _I want to hold your face in my hands and know every inch of that smile._

“We should get moving,” Javier says, and Arthur guiltily forgets for a moment that he’s there. “The law will be on us quick if we stick around.”

“He’s right, they must’ve heard that for miles,” Charles says, grunting as he gets up. He holds out a hand for Arthur. “Come on.”

“I’m movin’,” Arthur grumbles, taking his hand and pushing the thought of his hands on him out of his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m [lakay](https://cowboylakay.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
